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Old elevator in the Empire State Building still runs on DC motors
Went to NYC last week and rode a service elevator that was original from the 1930s. The controls were all relay logic, no microprocessors in sight. Any of you guys still work on these old DC machines regularly?
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wesley834mo ago
My dad worked on one of those old Otis DC machines back in the day and he still says those relays ran smoother than anything with a chip in it. Funny how tech goes backwards sometimes, those things just keep chugging along while my smartphone crashes twice a day.
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jenny5804mo ago
Oh man, "those relays ran smoother" - your dad totally nailed it. I remember riding an old Otis elevator in a department store back in the 80s and it had this solid, smooth feel to it (like butter, honestly). My uncle was a building super and he showed me the machine room once - all those big mechanical parts and relays just clicking away, no glitches, no updates. Meanwhile my phone has frozen twice today just trying to open a webpage. It's wild how we traded reliability for convenience, you know?
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